The Curiosity robot confirms methane in Mars' atmosphere...life

[Ichingcarpenter]

The tunable laser spectrometer in the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) instrument of the Curiosity robot has unequivocally detected an episodic increase in the concentration of methane in Mars' atmosphere after an exhaustive analysis of data obtained during 605 soles or Martian days.

This has been revealed in an article authored by scientists from the MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) mission, recently published in Science. One of the authors of this article is Francisco Javier Martín-Torres, a researcher at the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC-UGR).

This puts an end to the long controversy on the presence of methane in Mars, which started over a decade ago when this gas was first detected with telescopes from Earth. The controversy increased afterwards with the measurements obtained by orbiting satellites, some of which were occasionally contradictory. These new and incontrovertible data open paths for new research that can identify the sources that produce this gas--which could include some type of biological activity--and the mechanisms by means of which the gas is eliminated with such inexplicable speed.

Ever since the Telescope in the Mauna Kea Canada-France-Hawaii Observatory first announced the detection of methane in the Martian atmosphere, several other measurements of the gas have been conducted by means of a diversity of instruments, both remotely from earth, and also by means of satellites like the Mars Express and the Mars Global Surveyor.

Since methane can be the product of biological activity--practically all the existing methane in Earth's atmosphere originates in this way--this has created great expectations that Martian methane could also be of a similar origin.



http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/uog-tcr022715.php